People have always made visual appraisals of domestic animals and humans to compare like kinds and to try to predict future performance and production. In domestic animals it is also beneficial to select a young offspring that will produce a superior animal. Animal breeders continually try to select for faster or stronger horses, increased volumes of meat for cattle, swine, poultry and sheep as well as a larger volume of milk for dairy animals. The very economic base of pricing for animals is directly related to a predicted future performance or production of the animals.
It is well known that the highest price is paid for the butchered beef carcasses that not only possess the greatest quantity of meat but also the highest percentage of intramuscular fat, which is often referred to as "marbling". The United States Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) uses a grading system to compare like kinds of meat. The grading system within the beef industry denotes the highest quality meat with a rating of U.S.D.A. PRIME. Respectively the next two ratings are CHOICE and SELECT. PRIME meat brings the highest price per pound. The other end of the spectrum has the lowest ratings of CUTTER and CANNER and bring the lowest price per pound. The finest steaks (and highest priced) are often purchased by restaurants and promoted as U.S.D.A. PRIME Beef. Many of the steaks purchased in a meat market are graded U.S.D.A. CHOICE or SELECT.
When a beef animal is butchered and the actual quantity and quality of meat inside can be seen, then the grading and pricing can be very accurate. However, there is a tremendous need to determine the potential quantity and quality of the meat when the animal is younger, many months prior to butchering. A beef animal is often sold on several occasions throughout its life before it is butchered. It may be sold as a weanling (just weaned from its mother cow) and then may be sold again months later to a feed lot. In the feed lot the beef animal is given a concentrated ration of food to maximize the growth process as well as maximize the marbling within the meat. Finally, the beef animal is marketed to a butchering facility to provide steaks, roast, hamburgers and many other beef products.
The beef animal is usually weighed at each point of sale and often subjectively appraised by a person knowledgeable in the beef industry. Unfortunately, this means of appraising the beef animal doesn't provide either the buyer or the seller with an evaluation of the marbling of the meat inside the beef animal. For example, one might raise ten beef calves that on sale day each weigh the same and visually (or actually measured) appear to be nearly identical in conformation. Later, the ten are sold to a feed lot and weigh the same as well as appear similar in conformation. When they are sold to be butchered, again, the ten weigh and appear identical but the U.S.D.A. grading finally comes into play. It is possible that the meat from one animal will be rated PRIME, the meat from three others rated CHOICE and the meat from the last six will be graded SELECT. Any combination of grading is possible after butchering, but at previous sales there was no premium paid for the potential PRIME animal(s) nor was anyone able to predict which animal would be PRIME, CHOICE, or SELECT.
There have been several means attempted to measure beef muscles and intramuscular fat. Some prior art systems use x-rays and/or CAT scans for measuring. These methods have several drawbacks. Often the animal cannot remain motionless for the duration of the scan, which could take several minutes. Also, the technician(s) are required to wear protective (i.e. lead-vest) x-ray gear when x-ray scanning is used.
Other prior art systems have been developed using various types of Ultrasound (and/or sonogram) imaging. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,290 entitled "System for Measurement of Intramuscular Fat in Cattle" of Brethour, issued Mar. 14, 1995. Even though the scanning time of real-time ultrasound is less than that of x-rays or CAT scans, these systems still have limitations. A liquid solution must be used between the ultrasound scanning device and the animal's hide to allow transmission of the sound waves into the animal's muscle that is targeted for measuring. Several hundred beef animals passing through an area (i.e. chute) used for scanning can possibly create a slippery mess of solution on the floor. Additionally, the resulting ultrasound images may need to be interpreted by a highly skilled technician and inaccuracies are possible.
It is thus apparent that there is a need in the art for an improved method or apparatus which provides information about the size and marbling of the animal's muscles while removing requirements for a sound conducting liquid, and while reducing the skill required to operate the system. The present invention meets these and other needs in the art.